Another unexpected day

Was leaving Male today, and headed for the ferry harbour. Wasn't sure which Attol to visit, so I was just walking past the different Jettys.
Not many people around, but I finally spotted a ferry with quite a few people in it.
No signs, so I just walked onboard. Think I heard one guy saying "what are you doing".

A friendly man in uniform stood up.
"where's this ferry going" I asked.

"sorry, it's a custody ship", the policeman replied, and a handful of prisoners raised their arms to show me their handcuffs. Laughing!
Well, not the ferry I was looking for. :)

I ran into a group of tourists standing at a jetty.
Like me, they didn't succeed in boarding a ferry, and didn't know what to do.
Again, a local tried to help us, and took us to his shop.
He tried to organize a boat for us, and book a guesthouse.
He went with us to find a good place for lunch, and met us later on while we were waiting for the boat. BUT, it turned out the boat was almost fully booked, so only few of us could go.
We all decided to stay in Male.

I went back to my cheap'ish guesthouse.
They had one room getting available in the evening, but also a room for locals. Locals?
The receptionist, Shifna, showed me the alright room, but she kept saying it was not good.
I thought it was fine, but after a while she asked me to follow her. ??

She walked for quite a while. It turned out she walked me to her private house where I was introduced to her sister and brother.

She didn't like tourist being cheated with overpriced hotels and guesthouses, so she offered me a room in their house. Free of charge. She just asked me to do something nice for someone else another time.
What! ? :)
So generous of Shifna, and her brother and sister seemed to be fine with her idea.

Was served a wonderful dinner. I was trying to eat with my fingers which was creating some amusement around the little kitchen table.

Her brother, a retired fisherman, showed me lots of photos and videos of his ship, and I tried to chew in a few betel nuts.

Outside, three kids were playing. I  had a good chat with them. The kids here speak very good English.
Neighbors, people passing were very curious. Stopped, and looked at me. Not a place you would encounter tourist.

Incredible friendly people. Lovely, very interesting experience.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Maafushi

Photos: a few pictures from my hosting family.